Excitement, and Not Training-related

It's 1.45am. Apart from having a few glasses of beer ^n during the simple farewell keiko dinner with Naganawa-san, and being battered by yondan ninja Minejima-san during demo shinsa tachiai, I am more excited to present you with:-



This week's Metropop. Metropop is a weekly magazine published every Thursday from Metro (same newspaper on underground/ subway trains globally). Hong Kong is the experimental city to lanuch such a weekly mag, and according to published statistics, it has a local circulation of 118,462.

There you see my work. Not the most brilliant, but probably most read, so far:-



Just an ad for a concert of a local orchestra, alongside with many other ads in the mag. Not sure I'm so willing to show it off... Their whole campaign is driving me nuts - as I've been typesetting for 101 music pieces' listing for the entire week - reason why I was late fro kendo today!!

Doing Things Properly

We had a Sumi-sensei weekend again, and he dropped by our dojo today.

They were doing stretching when I got there, and I pretty much fall asleep lying comfortably on the dojo floor...

Had a torn-off blister under my little finger after a good round of suburi-keiko, again lasted for 30 mins. Obvious sign of not training regular enough.

Then 4 rounds of 3-string kirikaeshi as warm-up, followed by an endless amount of uchikomi-keiko (men-hiki-men/kote/do x3), when totally wore every kakarite out.

I was (un)fortunate enough to be standing opposite Sumi-sensei when he needs a uchikomi-keiko demo, and was forced to repeatedly correct my leaning-forward posture during hitting, and also moving to the side in between the set. These 2 bad habits will be what I should work up on before my sandan grading (hopefully). I was not *that* aware of these before, simply because only in demos against an 8th-dan sensei that I felt like putting up a better show when so many people are watching. Pressure is definitely good for me.

Five points to recap:-
1) Shinai tip shouldn't drop when raising up during suburi
2) Hit and receive on monouchi part of shinai - both motodachi and kakarite needs tobe aware
3) Seme-ashi first before every hit
4) Keeping back straight when hitting
5) Keeping a tsubazeriai kamae smoothly after hitting - should keep shinai at the same level after the hit, until tsuba almost touching opponent's men-gane, then drop hands

作文コンテスト

先月、日本語学校の作文コンテストで二等賞を取った。（優勝５人、二等賞１０人、三等賞２０人）テーマは、「今年度の目標」について。

奨学金HK$100をもらったのに、三級以上の勉強するのをあきらめてしまった。

他の事を習いたいからです。（時間がない）

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

オートバイを運転できるようになる！

　セントラルの会社に勤めてもう二ヶ月になります。新界に住んでいるので、家から会社までバスに乗って片道７５分はかかります。朝のラッジュはすごいです。高速道路もいつも込んでいます。だから、早く会社に行きたくてもいけません。時々遅れてしまい、困ります。

　自分でオートバイを運転したら、通勤の時間を短くなるとおもいます。小さいですから、込む道でも大丈夫ですし、便利です。なので、早く起きる必要はありません。それに、オートバイは車より安いです。貯金が足りたら、すぐ買えます。

　オートバイは通勤だけではなく、休みも使えます。先月、友達にドライブしてもらいました。二人でスポーツバイクに乗って、香港島南部の海岸へ行きました。あのスポーツバイクは、かっこいいし、速いし、それにエンジンの音が強いです。途中で、オートバイを乗りながら、綺麗な景色を見ることができて、楽しいしかったです。

　なので、今年オートバイの運転免許を取ろうと決心しました。

Out of the Blue

Sorry for the lack of updates, as I've been struggling with the new job, evening Nihongo classes, and the freelance projects that never seem to be finishing... I'd say I am lucky enough to still be catching once a week of kendo in the past month or so.

Yet, very much out of the blue, I won the ladies open grade individuals at the last local taikai---!!

Round 1
Ai-men at encho, 1-0 vs Lei from Macau

Round 2
De-gote, 1-0 vs Pek from my dojo

Round 3
Tobikomi men, Nuki-do, 2-0 vs Couk from Macau

Round 4 (Final)
De-gote, 1-0 vs Jay from HKKA

My half of the tree isn't as competitive, as we are all roughly at the 0-2 dan level. Squad sempai and the newly Godan, Jay and Agnes, together with Horiguchi-san (3 dan) who just picked up kendo after 10 blank years, had rather exciting fights. In total there were only 15 girls.

Adding to that, I wasn't thinking about winning or even scoring! In the morning I switched off the alarm clock and had thought of staying in bed instead... Looking back for the pass 2 weeks I've only went to kendo ONCE, and perhaps jogged twice, plus some stretching and suburi etc. light exercise at home... Which, on the other hand, made me feel very relaxed. I was there to play my own game.

I am quite suprised that just by relaxing alone is better than thinking about what I should score, how I should prepare for my fight, etc. etc. (and to a certain point, why I am able to win against those who practice a lot more regularly, and am more experienced then me...) Take the finals for example, when I took on de-gote, despite what the crowd had been cheering and clapping for, I really turned my head left and right to check the flag, and told myself, "Gee, I am getting Gold!"

It's a mystery. This is the first time I've got placed in Hong Kong, and the first time I get first for my kendo (I've only won once for Iaido mudan division in the UK). I am so under-prepared that I forgot about bringing my own camera... So I'll add a medal pic when I get hold of any one of them.

Still, if I am going to get graded Sandan this year, I'd better get to train more often!

Yoku Dekimashita--!

Now that this has been done, all I need is to finish the remaining few months of my 3rd kyu course, send out the form and claim back my $$$$!!!

The Pay Off

So, the Asian Tournament - it has been renamed to Hong Kong Asian Open Kendo Championships.

There's some last minute changes to the local team arrangements, and I ended up being the taisho, with Noyori-san and Lo on the 3-person ladies HK Team C. The ladies were on a completely separate division this year - meaning we cannot be on the 2nd Dan below teams, but the good thing is there is no longer scenes of giant bear pushing little girl beginners all over the place.

My team gets the lucky pool - we can still get through if we placed 2nd in our group.

First, we trashed the Guangzhou team. Afterwards people kept reminding how sharp my hiki-men and tobikomi-men were (actually I think the hit landed on men-gane...), and I'm very eager to watch it in video!!

We get Asian Kendo Club B next. I don't know what exactly is this club about, but heard that they're a group of asia expats who've returned to Japan. We've watched them fight against Guangzhou previously, and I thought, while they're good (and with Japanese last name anyway), they are not as bright as the other 2 university teams.

So fast forward a little bit... I looked at the scoreboard and see that I have to win 2 points straight for my team to draw on points. When I stepped in there, I don't feel my opponent too overwhelmly strong or unbeatable, even though from what I watched earlier she is better than me... Suddenly I quite fancy winning the match. I went quite hyper after getting used to her timing. On ipponme I lost a kote, but nihonme I really made a 3-flag-up kote-nuki-men...!! Maybe if it wasn't of the last failed block I tried and the debana-elbow I lost to (got bruise to prove!), I might draw or even win that match!!

Now we are one step up the match tree, and our next match is against Asian KC Team A (first team of their pool) - so they might be even stronger. I jokingly told Lo and Noyori-san that if we win the next team, we can secure a medal (!).

When it's my turn to fight, my teammates had already lost and so, it doesn't really matter what I do in the court!! When I go all out, I find that spiritual-wise, it pulled my level closer to my stronger opponent. I made good attempts and so did she, but none worked. I lost 0-K, by one point, so it doesn't look too horrible.

The eventual winner is Fukuoka Edu Uni team. Kokugakuin came 2nd. Maybe they'll have a better chance with their original senpo - who injured her leg during keiko on friday night. Li from Macau was their replacement. She's actually quite a nice addition to their team - scoring a really fast debana-men shodachi within 3 seconds on her Fukuoka opponent.


The Guangzhou boys may have bad taste in their totally out-of-place Shinsengumi samurai cosplay team jacket (don't miss the red bulb accessory on their chest, a paper fan too), but their kendo is not bad at all. We always expect Japanese team has the best players, but overall I am more impressed with the performance of some kohai and also competitors from Mainland China. Some of them looked like total beginner last Nov at the Chinese Tournament, yet their current kendo level is on such a great leap. A guy from Guangzhou beat our local favourite Johnny (who won C. Yang in the individuals at the last WKC). Well, you'd never know who's been training harder while you weren't!


There are just too many cups and medals to be given out... Trophy cups + medals for the 1st-3rd place of each division, medals kantousho for one member of EACH team. I'm lucky to receive one of the more practical ones:-


"Shimpan-cho sho" it says, or Chief Referee's Award - 4 for each division. This is the first thing I won in Hong Kong, and therefore very encouraging little present to have.

Earlier we heard the good news about 3 of our ladies sempai has all passed their 5th Dan shinsa. Damn if only I've applied my sandan...! Perhaps I should save this new shinai bag with little sakura print when I receive my sandan menjo?

The Big Loop

Do you remember this lap on the map? (the blue one)


Yesterday at 7.30pm I tried running the full lap once more. I've been jogging along the riverside on the days I can't kendo. It's been a while since I time myself.

Stopwatch that shows my time, without stopping in the middle:-


Yes I made the full round - within half a year of running!!

I was accompanied by quite a lot of other runners going anti-clockwise: a group of 20 students from the nearby sports college, a group of 10 firemen from the nearby fire station, plus 5 people wearing the same "Standard Charter Marathon '06" t shirt!

The Asian Tournament shares the same date as the Standard Charter Marathon (much like the New York one, marathon around town), which is this weekend! Time to pump up!

Welcome to Year 2007

Ah-ha!

Within the first 2 weeks of my job hunt, I received an offer from a decent graphic design studio. I've also spent an afternoon chatting with the director of one of the top 3 studio in town. He gave me invaluable advice on surviving in the local design scene, adding to the positive thinking and confidence transferred from that conversation.

Anyway, after the Chinese New Year holiday in the coming weekend, and finishing the remaining mundane freelance projects, I'll be working in a design team that values my creative work.

...Which also means that I can go to regular training now. At the last minute, I signed myself up for the Asian Tournament. It seems like 99% membership of our dojo is going to take part in it, and there's no reason now for me to just stand there and watch!

Happy New Year everyone. Did you notice I've changed to Mingshiwan.com yet? The 13th WKC special site is still under construction. I should get it done over the holiday really...

The 9th President Trophy Tournament

It's great to have a camera now with the function for colour correction - at least I can show some presentable shots from now on...

At the last minute I found out that I got into the all-girl team from my dojo. I wasn't really expecting anything from this tournament. I've only get back into twice-per-week training since Jan, and I've skipped Thursday's to work on a zzzz project overnight. Anyway, I don't have the "you have to win" pressure on me, which makes the day more enjoyable.

There's this trend in our little city that audience has to cheer out loud. Sorry but we're ignoring your concept of budo - and our act is even encouraged by our sensei. It holds the team and the dojo together, better than doing your kendo in 3 minutes and not having further business watching.

I fought as Jiho in the first matches of the day, after the kids competition and a mass warm-up. Strange but I think the recent extra shiai preparations helped, that I wasn't frozen in sonkyo etc. It must have been more than 8 months since the last time I fought in a formal shiai with 3 referees.

Even more suprising was that I scored first on my opponent with a BRILLIANT hiki-kote. The sort of hiki-kote that I really created the chance, committed on the cut, and caused 3 flags up instantly. Too bad I lost nihonme by a kote-nuki-men. I lost my focus after that, started cutting in messy mode and drew my match.

For the rest of the fights I advised on the girls to keep the points for decision match after taisho-sen. And as expected, the 5 fights went as 1-1, 1-1, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0 and we need to get that golden ippon. We pushed Takahashi-san to represent us (since no one else has the confidence), who lost eventually.

Our opponents was around 1-2 dan level from HKKA's dojo, which is quite similar to my team. If only I, or anyone kept a point up. Zannen desu.

We have 4 teams from our dojo, 3 went on to the 2nd round. My team went on to become a cheerleading team.

Our A team went the furtherest to the FINALS - Amy, Naganawa, Michael, Angus, Mark Stone - but lost 4-1 to the "fake-Korean" all-white Sekishinkan team. The fights has been exciting though, at least from a spectator point of view.

That hiki-kote I scored does fire me up a bit, especially there are people coming to me telling me how good it was. Yet I'm again in job-seeking mood, and have kindly declined committing to fight at the coming Asian Tournament in March. I've sent out a few letters last week, and if my life gets better next month with a stable job, I wouldn't mind. We'll see...

Pre-taikai

In 2 week's time we are going to have our local team tournament. Practice has been intense lately. For some reason everybody seems quite keen to fight, especially with the new practice arrangement - fitness on Thurs, waza on Sat, and an extra Sunday shiai keiko.

It was a nightmare at work and only early this month I'm the acceptable 2 practice a week of kendo. Life's like that and we try to make most of it. One of my dojomates, and a friend to many readers here, Mark Stone, had his 1-week-old baby daughter to look after with, struggled to show up for our shiai keiko.

The toughest part has to go with the fitness training on Thurs - it was a lot more fum with the kids around, but the level of tiredness stays for the next 4 days---!!! Apart from the suburi and such, we also got shuttle-run-with-push-ups and human-tunnel-crawl. All highly military. Perhaps Eda-sensei wants to see if bodybuilding like Team USA will pump us all up and ready for the taikai.

I haven't fought in shiai for quite a long while (or even in regular keiko...) - but got arrange into the "A" team everyone thinks, fighting taisho position. With all these responsiblity thoughts coming in, I should just stick with the kendo for this month, just to get back to it. In next month I'll be back in the jobhunt, and probably can't commit to anything at all.

Last Sun's shiai keiko was not too bad. M-M vs Nigata-san, 0-D vs Noyori-san, 0-0 vs Pik and Leo who's in Nito. I can feel that my cuts went ok. But Oda-san (senpai in charge) did comment about the "No seme" part. All I've been getting for the past few month is just some very kihon partnered exercise. It's very hard to create seme without actually doing a lot of jikeiko or shiai... Something I miss out on with my away periods for "work".

Coming Soon

Sorting Things Out

Oops - I haven't even started touching the photojournal. We've got that distant earthquake (My seat was swinging back and forth while I was staring at my laptop from my 16th floor flat). Email broke down for 36+ hours, and work piled up with every client rushing me to send them revisions. I'm probably gonna be trapped at home working on crappy leaflets, websites and such. Personal projects will be postponed until further notice. Hondon ni gomennasai...

Seems like I'm going to have my Xmas holiday sitting in front of my computer 10am-10pm as usual! Can't believe everyone wants their work to be done at the same damn time AND on MY holiday...

Only the world's smartest a$$es will be checking my Flickr for some teaser pics ------>

There are a couple of ideas for my 13th WKC photojournal . Since I don't have much shiai pics to go with (since I did't have a VIP pass to shoot from the arena level), maybe I should do better things with them. So far the structure will go as:-

** Please suggest COOLer titles to go with **

Before, During & After
- some chronological photos from the opening ceremony, fights, awards, etc.

Off the court and around the stadium
- audience, bogu stalls, anime-manga convention peeps

The Ultimate Kamae Challenge
- highlights for some Jodan players, Jodan vs Chudan, Nito, etc.

Annyeong haseyo
- Glorious moments for Team S. Korea I captured

13th WKC Kendo Jacket Fashion Showcase
- basically a collage of what everyone was wearing

British Corner
- dedicated to friends from Team GB (including an experimental film)

Taipei sightings
- Obviously some travel snaps to go with, i.e. street foodstalls, around town, Taipei 101, etc.

*****

Will need to spare time to put everything up during Xmas.

So You've Bloody Missed It

So you've heard the news. Result for the 13th WKC men's team:-

S. KOREA First Place
USA 2nd Place

Chinese Taipei got beaten by Korea.
Japan GOT BEATEN by USA (something like 1:0, 0:1, 1:0 , 0:1, 2:0)

It's all f***ed up and sorry you've goddamn missed it.

You might think that we all arranged it and I am telling you that some team other than Japan got 1st but ITS FREAKING TRUE at 1.50am after a few drinks offered by the British team.

But you can still get ready for Kendo Nippon's coverage on it and look at it yourself.

(why do I bother plugging in my laptop on a Monday Morning....????)

From Taipei

Smell it.

Busy with work - more later.

Rushing Up

Devoted the weekend to Nihongo - sat 2 JLPT exams and they turned out to be easier than expected.

Now I am struggling to finish projects up for 5 different clients, all setting deadlines in a week. If I delay the projects, I might lose the deal because clients will find someone else. Might have to bring along my laptop instead of bogu. (Or just the kote to have them patched up)

There's also something else happened, making me to give up on my NTD 1200 seat on the second day. Also that I'll have to change hotels on 2 nights (i.e. have to carry laptop, camera and stuff to the stadium)... I thought I'm going to treat myself better by not staying in a youth hostel, but things suddenly become so poorly arranged that I have to apologize to myself!!

Spirited Away

Last Sunday was the 2nd Regional Kendo Tournament. With not much work to handle this week and no dates to go to, I turned up as a spectator at 10.30am. The lateness was due to my failure in getting to the out-of-town venue using an alternative route - which brought me to the wrong side of the harbour...

Yet thanks to the usual operational delays -when I walked in it was still at the first team matches at the first pool in both courts.

"Regional" really means Chinese. It's a Chinese-only tournament with teams from other cities in Mainland China. No Japanese team members in sight except the coaching sensei from representing cities. Apart from Hong Kong Team A-G and neighbouring Macau, we also have Team Guangdong A-C, Shanghai A-C, Beijing A-C and a mixed team. People with odd zekken like Dalin, Chengdao, etc. have been spotted.

They seem to love energy-saving lightings here, which wasn't favourable for photography. So I ended up doing some filming for my ex-teammates.

Comparing to last year, the level of kendo from other cities has gone up. Adding to that, Team HK didn't put any team with five 4-dan in it, which makes the matches more exciting to watch as the result is always unpredictable.

I follow mostly Team B to film which also had Jane as jiho. She is getting used to fight alongside the other 4 boys, and took some surprisingly sneaky ippons that got praised by Kishikawa sensei and the whole lot of us from the same dojo.



Team Ladies was defeated by Guangdong A at the quarter-finals. Senpo Xixi was sick to hold on to the match. Must have set a bad start for the rest of the team members.

Team "A" went all the way to the semis but beaten by Beijing A. The Northerners were on fire.

That only came to Team B's responsibility to be the top Champ. It was going like 0-2 for Wong, 0-2 for Jane (apparently, she hang on against Xixi's tall boyfriend till 3'30"...) - until our Fok came up, lost one more point, which fired him up to get back a 2-1. Then Johnny a quick 2-0 as usual, and finally taisho-sen Yip also delivered an breath-taking 2-1 against Yuding (who went to Fukuoka with us last June).

Observing a more local tournament with an overall level closer to myself, it's not only the kendo that matters. You can still get sucked into the game and enjoy checking the scoreboard. You can shout encouragement whenever necessary and cheer for any players putting up a good show.

We did have 2 IKF 8-dan sensei overlooking the taikai. I reckon the more they come and see for themselves, the more they notice the interest of kendo in Mainland China, which will help the Chinese to set up a proper IKF-recognized organization.

Besides the camera, I had my bogu with me for some light bash at the finishing 35-min of jikeiko. Most visting girls ended up standing in the 8-dan queue with 10+ people in it. In the end I had a Guangzhou guy similiar to my build, and then a Shanghai big guy. Depsite being more junior than me in terms of skill, both of them were a lot more spirited to initiate attacks and such. I lost a handful of debana men just because of that. It's like one of those days where you haven't been into regular training and people keep getting you at ease. It's just a matter of going back.

I do have a feeling that I should avoid regular kendo to concentrate more on jobs, etc. I am having a second thought on what the others told me - "kendo gives you the positive attitude that can be translated to other aspects in life" blah blah blah - simple because it wasn't working. For the past few months without much practice, all work suddenly came to find me.

That's why it's not any worse going to Taiwan just to catch everyone else's fights. Enjoy the fights, the chat, the photo-snapping, the street food, the beer and the combined kendo atmosphere. 3 weeks to go with flights, hotels + tickets all booked. It's rewarding enough for what I've sacrificed (by staying away from kendo).

Have a Break

No, I am still going to kendo once a week. Was fun and relaxing. Nothing special to report.

Just that this Sun I joined a small photography club. It's so much better to pick up my other interest again. The club was started by some foreigners, and now with about 15 members, (with 4 local Chinese on this trip) they go around the city every month for a photography outing. Some of them are semi-pro with cool DSLRs and a bag of lenses.

Equipped with a Konica Minota Dimage Z2 - We went on the 1-hour ferry tour and I thought it'll be nice to share some touristy places from where I am.


>> Clock tower from the Central Pier, with the 88-storey International Finance Centre behind.


>> Yup, the infamous Victoria Harbour. The day has been nice but it's been rather smoggy lately - pollution from Mainland China. I'll consider to relocate in a few years time if this situation doesn't improve.


>> Clock Tower from the opposite side of Central - Tsim Sha Tsui or TST for short. The slope-like archtecture piece behind it is the Cultural Centre, and the grey one, the classy Peninsula Hotel.


>> Yet another view of the Wanchai commercial district on the island side.


>> Back at Central Pier. I am starting to like archtecture photography more than I used to. The Central Pier is going to be torn down in Nov. Hence apart from my group, a lot of people are taking pics that day - for example... spot the girl on the 2nd floor.

Iizuka Sensei + Friends

One of my non-kendo friends asked the same question that everyone reading this blog wanted to ask,

"Jenny, you're lazy. When's the last time you train?"

I did go last Thurs. Though with work piling up in recent weeks I could barely fit a keiko once a week. But usually I still managed a swim and a jog in my neighbourhood during the week, so my body still moves alright (I think).

On Sat morning I went picking up some banners I printed for my client, dropped them to his office, got home and had a 1/2 hour nap, then I picked up my bogu and headed off to QEII.

I only realized that there're Iizuka sensei (8th Dan, Shizuoka ken), 3 fresh 8th Dan, plus 4 more higher Dan visiting this weekend. Hence there isn't much of a "practice" but just queuing to keiko with sensei...

We did have some simple warmup and suburi. Then we were told that "The first 1/2 hour will be practice for 4Dan & above and squad members"... Fair enough. We the lower ranking ones will get the sensei when they were all a bit tired (especially they came straight from the airport?)

I did my keiko with Kawaki, 5Dan woman, and Suzuki, fresh 8Dan older male, during the remaining 30 mins.

A couple of differences that I found without a lot of practice:-

1) I actually wanted to initial attack more. I'm taking more on the offensive, despite the level of opponent.
2) My keikogi became soaking wet within 30 mins. I can keep my stamina up by doing some exercises, but I cannot re-create the pressure in a kendo environment.
3) Stopped worrying and enjoy the bash!

The friendly practice with Tony from Seattle when "last keiko" was shouted, added in much fun out of all the 8Dan seriousness around us.

There's practice Sun morning 9-11am. But obviously I love my bed very much and did not intend to get out of it at 730 this morning.

My Sandan is due this weekend too, but I don't have any intention to get it anytime this year. I really want my other aspects of life to settle first before getting serious in my leisure training. Like, my 3kyu Nihongo class will finish in a month, and I need revision for the 2 exams in Dec.

Sumi Sensei

Sumi sensei was in HK for a local referee seminar last weekend. I spared my Sat evening to take a lesson from him. Knowing his teaching style since Ikkyu, I hope that by coming to the dojo, he will inspire me in some ways people here can't.

Saturday's class has a focus on tenouchi. We had different exercises to understand what the correct tenouchi should be like. I think those ones with both hands holding the shinai near the tsuba really helps using the left hand to cut.

There's also men-uchi from to-mai, with a step advancing and then immediately cut. There's a funny exercise that "show your sole of your feet to your opponent" before fumikomi to remind us of using the hips more.

Finally there's some kirikaeshi, uchikomi-keiko and jikeiko to end the session with. Managed a keiko with Wong-san and Takase (kohei) which went alright. After that it was standing-in-the-queue time at Sumi-sensei's line. Briefly chatted with Yip and got and updated on who's in the official men's team.

Kishikawa-sensei wasn't there.

There's always emailing coming in about visiting sensei and upcoming events. Now that I don't have the obligation to get to these "all squad member should attend" activities, I'm getting to the trainings when I feel like. May need a longer period of time to build up very strong motivation, but I'm in no hurry. At least I can tell people "I love my job" now.

Being There

After about a month's absence due to various issues in life, I went to keiko at my own dojo.

We've got a typhoon here and its raining like hell. I went anyway.

It was a really kihon class suitable for all levels. There's only 6 adults and 3 kids in the rotation, loads of stretching & warming-up, plus none of the exercise involves an offensive motodachi. The only special scene being the visiting 7 Dan Kyoshi, Miss Nou from Chiba getting into our rotation for a while, and did jikeiko with everyone towards the end of the class.

Over the days I have lost the inspiration from visiting sensei. Maybe because we got 7-8 dan visitors so damn often. I've already missed Furukawa sensei from Hokkaido last weekend because of painful tonsillitis.

With the squad responsibility out of my mind, during keiko I felt a lot more relaxed and in control. I didn't get to train because of some subconscious guilt - and that certainly makes the keiko more enjoyable, no matter how basic the things we did today.

A bit of update about life: apart from a couple of logo projects for the coming month, my spare time involves meeting friends, studying Japanese (this is getting difficult if I don't revise anything) jogging, and swimming in the pool. I didn't know that I can learn breaststroke in by watching people doing it...! It's hot, sunny, and the pool is only 3 mins walk from home. From nothing to 2x25-metre in 3 weeks. Amazing.

My ex-02-boyfriend is a lifeguard, but I wasn't interested in swimming until after the broke up. Maybe the moral here is that, you're only going to miss the thing when you don't have it any more.